it is russian business when we get a boot faces a pretrial hearing the alleged gun runners says the mounting media campaign has convicted him before he's even stepped foot in court. and russian banks get rid of two thirds of their non core assets accumulated during the crisis now the central bank wants to speed up the sell off join me in about twenty minutes time for more. very warm welcome this is live from moscow. russia promises to support afghanistan after western forces leave the wall to wall region in three years president pledged come out came the talks are all the with karzai here in moscow the two leaders also agreed to prioritize the fight against since russia bears the brunt of afghanistan's vast drug production industry down in the following high level

meeting. during this landmark official visit to russia the first visit of a nap band leader in several decades that two presidents have decided that their main priority in biological cooperation is indeed drug trafficking they have decided to take on all measures from destroying the poor p. fields preventing production of heroin and illegal sales of it of course for bush it is concern number one because some thirty thousand speedboat die annually from heroin addiction and russia and another one point five million are addicted in although those drugs come from afghanistan which makes russia number one heroin consumer fraud again is that in russia has been trying to increase in britain includes its pretty sick patient in tackling this problem and president karzai has indeed said that's get us down cannot talk this problem without the help from the international community and push the sign to do its best to help of ghana stand to

prepare for the withdrawal of the us troops from the country in two thousand and fourteen when they've got is and will have to take care of its own security now in order to do that russia is willing to help train military officers for afghanistan earlier russia and the united states have agreed to let the u.s. military cargo transit through russian territory to also ease the delivery of military aid said to the country and the two countries have agreed to proceed working in that direction. russia would like to see afghanistan as an independent and prosperous state with an effective government this able to provide the development over afghanistan for decades to come at the same time we realize the country is going through a difficult period right now international forces are there to help restore order crush extremism and crime including drug crimes russia is also playing its role we

help transit congo to afghanistan and will continue to honor old legations to support afghan. in this important matter. the current phase of for aleutians is. especially important because it began in two thousand and one. in spite of. the presence of nato forces in afghanistan in those of the eyes of forces in afghanistan since then there has been a steady. strengthening and improved been relations primarily because russia understood the need for of council instability the need for of against us progress into a silver reliant country and and and government president karzai has also said that he would like to rely on help from washington why went one way or another even after the withdrawal of u.s. troops from the country. or we'll bring you our eggs collusive interview with the

afghan media in around twenty five minutes time am it's also available right now though on our website at www dot com. on russia suffers the most from the consequences of afghanistan's a drug production one narcotic the expert has told r.t. that is keen to play a greater role in stopping the trafficking because western forces have failed to solve the problem. russia has changed its tactics at the beginning of the counterterrorist operation a few years ago russia hoped that international forces could crush extramusical and get its. russian officials hope that maybe they could be able to stop the influx of drugs coming in russia but now we see a virtual americans and their european allies let's. say it clearly has failed in fighting extremism in afghanistan are taliban is gaining more and more support from of the local warlords and again it's. their production of heroin has been steadily

increasing since the original nine to the beginning of the duration so now of course russian officials have to deal with the problem of talking directly to the leaders organise them that's the only way to solve the problem as i said. to other news now russian born maria amalie has been calling norway her home for almost a decade she achieved academic success alongside plaudits for his social contribution to her adopted country however none of this changes the fact that she's about to purported from norway as a failed to follow him see how case has angered thousands of norwegians demanding that the current immigration policy be changed. reports was lying. are you relieved that you can stay no for one more day maria yes this was very good one day's good one more day might be all she gets for russian born maria is due to be deported from norway where she's lived since she was sixteen she speaks fluent

norwegian has a degree from a norwegian university and even a norwegian boyfriend the only thing i've wanted and she is well is for her to be with me and all of you it's a case that touched the hearts of ordinary norwegians enough to make them turn out repeatedly to protest for an immigrant girl who's made an effort to become one of them and it's created a grotesque comparison with another failed asylum seeker one mullah krekar leader of a kurdish terror group cracka has been declared a threat to national security and is on the u.s. and un terrorist list although he's now volunteered to go back to iraq no way will deport him to a country that carries the death penalty it's a terrible paradox for ordinary people to see. this fantastic everyone loves. this person that is not very popular to say the least constant nuisance to

norwegian society is able to stay born muddiness in logic of cause parents fled north etc when she was only twelve possibly as a result of a business deal gone wrong although well connected in russia closely related to the last defense minister of the savior union. of the family sort of in norway and when they were refused decided to stay on illegally reportedly learned norwegian in a matter of weeks got a master's degree and raise a book on the plight of illegal immigrants in norway and at the tender age of twenty five was declared norwegian of the year by an old magazine she had. an extraordinary sort of integration into norwegian society which is also very active . musical festivals and literature first was an extremely sort of active in the we knew from concert despite process the government standing for ironically norway's recently the number of deportations in response to public criticism that treatment

of illegal immigrants was too lenient in two thousand and ten deported thirty eight percent more foreigners than the year before and the justice ministry insists the law must apply to everyone everybody who comes here and apply for asylum said. should get thorough examination of the asylum application. that is to case for each and every one applies for asylum. but the point is in this case and other cases if that asylum application is rejected. those who are certain have to return we prefer of course that. they do this voluntarily but if they do not return or they have to be sent to their country of origin by force but billy's lawyer insists she hasn't had a fair hearing in fact he submitted claim to be authorities and the first he heard

of it being rejected was when five police turned up to arrest her after a speaking engagement political party the christian democrats samaria really is a prime example of why the rules must be changed we have to remember the child will come to norway. here in norway. to become free and this. need to change. the way we treat. children but any change in the law is unlikely to help maria really she has to report to a police station every day with a suitcase in case today's the day she has to leave her home the norwegian government's treatment milly has. brought its people out to the streets in anger and yet it would now take a humiliating state u. turn to allow her to stay in the country she grew up in and has come to call home i'm a lawyer hasn't given up but it seems for the norwegian person of the year time left

in norway can now be counted in days not weeks. coming up later in the program not backing down the head of new talk from around your program find out why it's around remains defiant against sanctions aimed at curbing its power play. season's greetings from a dead drugs ukrainians left perplexed by getting out of the new year from the man who was once the world's most notorious cocaine trafficker. now the e.u. boycotted the inauguration of belarus's incumbent leader alexander lukashenko as he was sworn in for his fourth all twenty seven member states refused to send representatives to the ceremony in response to claims that the december election was rigged the result spawned violent reaction which the opposition the design to visit journalists at times by police and in response the usual pace sanctions

including a found on pieces in a freeze on bank accounts belonging to senior government officials let's get more on this now from that is that all the numbers vanish from the common newspaper many thousands being here mr. know if these sanctions do come into force as these promising all this not only further isolate from the west well european union leaders keep on saying that this. target. leadership corporate top executives officials but not common men but as you know from from the histories of the bitter irony is that not only does it matter to the street who is suffering from sanctions in practical terms i think we. can expect. different programs you see involvement to go with european integration like eastern partnership program definitely. humanitarian social programs will suffer that's why

definitely we can expect said books which are not restricted only to you to build russian leadership because the sanctions would be to see discredit the the national standing of the country but could these does sanctions further affects the reputation of a country that's already being dubbed europe's last dictatorship well the reputed asian or belittle or to be more precise that or provision of president lukashenko has already suffered a serious blow i think that president bush has made a big political mistake precisely on december nineteenth when hours after. after the presidential elections he started the thread down on the position he lost i think he shouldn't have done this thing because by doing this he has undermined the credibility of his more this attempts to show that there is. any movement towards democracy let's be frank the. last election campaign was more democratic

compared to other ones but this actions during several days he completely destroyed what he was creating for yourself so he's actually quite large and now the e.u. is cooling the new elections to take place in belize how likely is it that that one thing that can do both of us can agree that where you remove chance for any new elections if any chance are told i think it's more proper to expect tightening screws this is what he's doing. and i was too huge protests from every faction of balor russian society in the aftermath of those elections people he usually unhappy with the way the elections were carried out look saying is now going to be in power for another five years if no new elections take place is there a place now in better ways for a viable opposition i think both yes a new. president lukashenko we were always very angry with that position and he

will use all instruments in just what he has you see all the stages of paraders just to suppress that position but at the same time. i think that at one stage he would understand that there is no option if he doesn't to whatever position you just just do to act independently or partly independent then they would be no no way just for for bill every street to break into world community and. this is also the question of political so wild for hire how he's going to survive talk from the eyes away. from the kind of studies many of us about the situation in belarus. now russian business men on the ledge to live at the bush is set to appear in a u.s. court for a pretrial hearing he's facing challenges of conspiring to kill americans and supplying weapons to terrorists all group that maintains his innocence the media continues to label him the merchant of death he's an associate reports.

we. are one three. true to form hollywood and most of us love a great villain in the film lord of war nicolas cage please have your was officials celebrate his arrest the so-called merchant of death is now a federal inmate who is this merchant of death and why is he getting all of this attention as. the u.s. over the course of eight years cultivated this image of an evil mastermind apparently they have no other problems nowadays there is only victor boot there is no osama bin ladin no al qaida no problems in afghanistan no problems in iraq there is only victor boot the evil man is a russian cargo dealing businessman chased by the u.s. for a decade upon the request of america he was arrested in thailand two years ago after thai courts twice found him not guilty of any crimes he was still extradited to the u.s.

this november to face one conspiring to kill united states nationals to conspiring to kill united states officers and employees three conspiring to use an acquire anti-aircraft missiles and for conspiring to provide material support to the far already dubbed an international arms trafficker by the u.s. victor boot is being held in a new york prison even though viktor boots trial date has not even been set yet the man has spent almost two months in this jail in downtown manhattan in solitary confinement his only contact with the outside world consists of meetings with his defense team as well as once a week check ups from the russian consulate having arrived to the u.s. to support their relative family has already received a far from warm welcome in the states his wife paula was held at the airport for almost three hours. the immigration officer asked me if i knew my husband was a terrorist while accusations are flying which case. legally means in thailand you

social he will place according to boots thai and russian lawyers his case to this moment remains in a thai court being there was no official decision of an extradition this has been reason the question of whether the u.s. broke laws in whisking him away onto its soil. has not committed any criminal activity and has not been found guilty neither in the us nor in any other country victor boot has said he's the victim of a propaganda war launched in america this is the lord of war the merchant of death right and you've got him in your hands spread he's in custody it's a great feeling whoops wife believes the case against her husband was fabricated and calls what happened to him a kidnapping the full sky i can accept the possibility that victor boot might have some information that might be of interest to someone but why is it that other countries don't just think to themselves that there is someone who has some interesting information and why don't those governments just drag those people on

to their territory technical pretrial hearings for victor boot kickoff in manhattan this week but legal experts say it will be months until the start of the trial if found guilty by the u.s. federal court bitter boot could face up to a life sentence behind bars. or t. new york now to run and says it will never stop enriching uranium the strong words came from iran's and void to the un's atomic watchdog before the latest round of talks on the country's nuclear program i ask says his country the atomic project is no completely self-sufficient and richmond will continue even f. around comes under military a tongue but countries already engineering a full sense of un sanctions iran is currently taking part in close talks with six while power going to stumble soltani its all down around should be bearing and international pressure in the first place. hard. all the

sanctions imposed on us by the u. when illegitimate we were obliged to allow inspections of our reactors and we did the international atomic energy agency found nothing wrong with our nuclear program and inspections were going on but then the us britain france and germany pressured the i.e.e.e. and the security council got the report it was waiting for international inspectors never found any evidence that iran is working on. this our country has not broken the law there is no legal basis for demanding we stop enriching uranium. there's going to check in on some world headlines this hour and the former british prime minister tony blair is facing questioning in london for a second time over his role in the run up to the iraq war the inquiry is investigating. why the u.k. supported the u.s. led invasion blair says he discussed regime change with president bush and

privately assured him saying you can't count on us he's being asked to clarify and says he gave to the panel members in january last year and you all protested are expected to demonstrate throughout the inquiry. self korea's military has freed all twenty one the crew members held on a cargo ship by pirates off the coast of somalia and they've come on days stormed the vessel killing eight pirates and capturing five others the chemical transporter was hijacked at the weekend while on its way to sri lanka from the united arab emirates. thousands of people had gathered near the interior ministry demanding the dissolution of the new interim government and it came amid a national day of mourning for those who died during the month long uprising that overthrew president but at least seventy eight people were killed during the wave of violence security forces are patrolling the streets trying to restore law and

order chaos lucic in the capital tunis. australia is considering spending cuts under special times to help also the massive economic impact of widespread flooding in the country experts say that the devastation in queensland victoria will cost about three billion dollars in lost agricultural production the reconstruction of roads and homes completely washed away by the deluge is a top priority for the government at least thirty people have died since december due to severe flooding on the east coast. now the people of hard core in ukraine are getting season's greetings from an infamous undead drug lord this week pablo escobar has been wishing them a happy new year his face beaming out from a poster in town for several days while the colombian was sold to dead in one thousand nine hundred three and was at one point the world's most prolific cocaine

baron officials say they've no idea who's behind the bizarre billboard which apparently cost the anonymous poster over twenty five thousand dollars but before anyone could figure out why it was their pleas to get down. in just a few minutes afghanistan's leader in moscow president karzai talks it's glue simply to see first round with israel's business news the sharon. welcome to our business program i'm sure on a q. . russian banks have gotten rid of two thirds of their non core assets most of them were unwillingly accumulated during the crisis the banks now hold an estimated twenty three billion dollars worth of non core assets richard haynsworth general director of us trading says the central bank is thinking about implementing measures to speed up the selloff. there aren't very many people who want to offer a good price for new enterprises. there isn't the capital available so in two or

three years' time there will be more capital and these enterprises will be worth more to the banks therefore bunch want to hold them and so they can sell them later the russian central. banking arm let's say well no you should get rid of the assets generate cash and lend them to new borrowers who can. then grow an international ratings agency fitch may upgrade russia's sovereign rating from the current triple b. the agency says it expects the country to reduce the deficit and attract over three hundred billion dollars there were its partners ation program asked for russia's banking system which experts say its outlook is stable the scope for further upwards however is limited due to weaknesses in the client base and corporate governance xander down in law from fitch rating says in two thousand and eleven russian banks will see lower profitability due to a stronger competition that's eating up margins. for most banks it would not be

a sort of. a significant rate driver so we don't expect major downgrades but obviously if it's the banks it would be a constraining fact especially for those banks with lower capitalization that we constraining factor for the growth and therefore they may be. sort of forced to consider as we discussed before merging with some of the banks. and russia has been ranked twenty first on the list of budget transparent countries that's according to a survey by international budget partnership the survey which included ninety four countries was taught by south africa followed by a new zealand and the u.k. although russia performed well among eastern european countries its main problem was deemed the reporting of budget games and expenditures which is not conveyed to the public in an understandable way the least budget transparent countries on the list were equitorial guinea and fiji. so let's take

a look at the markets european stocks traded most of the higher led by the banking sector topping the footsie is royal bank of scotland that's gaining over six and a half percent on news that it might exit the government's bad asset protection plan and astra zeneca jumps on optimism over its blood thinning drug meanwhile trading on british airways shares has been suspended now strength of the airlines merger with spain's iberia. and russia's bourses are trading up on the day the r.t.s. and my sex are up close to half percent energy majors are trading lower this hour. and lucullus trading point eight percent higher rosneft is gaining the most almost two percent bucking the trend is gas problem that is setting point sixty six percent. rosneft could buy more b.p. shares if the company's joint work proves successful the two or giants have set up an alliance to develop russia's arctic shelf speaking exclusively to r.t.

the rosneft vice president also said he feels positive about the start date of the project we think it's possible to start the first world. two thousand and fifteen according to lawyers and. there are three licenses. in the joint venture that will be pursued with b.p. we should have two wells a new choice and. twenty twenty. and you can catch the full interview with peter o'brien on tuesday january twenty fifth on spotlight. price growth or speeding up in russia presidential aide our colleagues are called which forecast inflation may top two percent in january earlier the economic development ministry said it may even climb to two point three percent compared to one point six percent last year business officials admit that if prices keep growing at such a rate this year's inflation target of six to seven percent may become too

ambitious. and russia's biggest truck maker cum oz has boosted its sales by almost a quarter in two thousand and ten it sold more than thirty two thousand vehicles including four thousand through exports on wednesday come on shares grew by more than twenty one percent a company records some analysts attribute the jump to come oz's dakar rally winning team and the company's plans to set up a joint venture with dime learned to manufacture truck axles. and that's your business update for now but you can always find more stories on our web site that's r t dot com slash business there with us.

the close up team has been to the homes to return to the lands developed by cossacks in ancient times. now wattie goes to the center of russian defense production. with christianity and shamanism existed side by side for centuries. with people in remote villages a cut off from the basics we take for granted. completely and republic russia close up on r.t. . wealthy british style. that's not on the tires.

market why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into a report on our. it's . done it's done rakova wall points west of. the metropolis country to meet the demand that is promised comes during president called five monologues visit to moscow and they keep the heads to the sound of the ball to flow about it's. a russian born woman crowned norwegian

of the year faces being booted out of the country but it really is.